S03.E03: A New Mission

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode description:

While Murphy and Warren face off, the fates of 10K and Citizen Z are revealed.

[ottoDbusdriver]

10K better be alive.

Citizen Z is going to be years trekking to California from the NSA/CIA/DNI secret site in the Arctic -- unless the eagles from Lord of the Rings show up somehow.

[madhacker]

Murphy, you BASTARD! Here I was finally liking the prick for saving 10k only to find out he put the control bite on the kid. 10k better be back to normal before the season finale. (and he'd better get some payback on Murphy, as in shooting off a hand or something a bit more humiliating like his zombie manhood).

Not so sure about the new girl on the team. She'd better stop whining and grow a spine soon.  Do like the new toys the gang got for "mercies"

[ottoDbusdriver]

53 minutes ago, madhacker said:

10k better be back to normal before the season finale. (and he'd better get some payback on Murphy, as in shooting off a hand or something a bit more humiliating like his zombie manhood).

And he'd better finally get laid.

But I'm really disappointed that Murphy put the bite on 10K.  Though it appears that Murphy's control over him might not have fully taken.

53 minutes ago, madhacker said:

Do like the new toys the gang got for "mercies"

How did those huge nails come out of that ball -- those nails were huge ??

Citizen Z survived his trek across the Arctic and seems to have found a safe shelter, with a mild stalker and her uncle and Nana.  At least there aren't any Zs around ?

'The Man' shows up -- in his sandals.  Did he walk to the West Coast all the way from the Midwest ?  But how did he know where to go ?

By the way, that plane dropping the supplies -- doesn't fly off an aircraft carrier.  Ever.

Murphy's full name is Alvin Bernard Murphy, per the note carried by 'The Man'.

I don't understand why they didn't just gun down all those Enders in the hallway -- because that was a stupid decision to throw that ball, because while Zs don't throw things Enders can throw things back which is exactly what they did.

Where have the Enders been all this time ?  They have never been seen before, though El Scorpion/Hector seemed to be aware of them previously.

I don't get the wandering Z ball -- sure, the Zs were eating each other, but why were they traveling in a ball ?  It was like a poor man's giant cheese wheel.

Edited September 24, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[zibnchy]

I did not watch but the first ten minutes of the first episode of the season. I tried, but it was a flashback and I found it confusing and boring. So I think I'm pretty clear on stuff from tonight's episode except for The Flip Flop Wearing Man. I gather he ws explained in the first ep but I refuse to go watch it sooooooo I was hoping someone might give me a brief explanation of who he is and why is he wearing flip flops. I appreciate it.

I've come to love this show and Warren is my favorite badass. Love the humor. Haven't been a big fan of 10K but I'm certain I will dislike him even more as a blend.

[ottoDbusdriver]

7 hours ago, zibnchy said:

I did not watch but the first ten minutes of the first episode of the season. I tried, but it was a flashback and I found it confusing and boring. So I think I'm pretty clear on stuff from tonight's episode except for The Flip Flop Wearing Man. I gather he ws explained in the first ep but I refuse to go watch it sooooooo I was hoping someone might give me a brief explanation of who he is and why is he wearing flip flops. I appreciate it.

Here's the Reader's Digest condensed version:

Last week's flashback episode occurred in the early half of Season 2 -- in an area somewhere in the Midwest when Zombiebaby had just been born the previous episode and Cassandra was still alive -- the gang encountered a girl named 'Red' and feral child who had been raised by crows, who lead them to a research facility where a doctor and what remained of his staff was attempting to cure the zombie virus using a fungus (a cure that hasn't worked out so well during testing).  The feral child mimicked 10K's outfit and style and was nicknamed '5K' by Doc.

Meanwhile, The Flip Flop Wearing Man or 'The Man' as he was called in the flashback was contacted by satphone by someone from Zona (someone we don't know but was clearly infected with the virus but appeared to have been injected with an early yet not entirely successful version of the cure) that was surviving in the lap of luxury with a house full of beautiful people in swimsuits lounging by a pool to tell 'The Man' to gather the doctor in the fungal research lab along with 7 other doctors that 'The Man' had previously collected on a list in 'The Man's possession.

Long story short, the staff at the research lab and the gang join forces to defend themselves against 'The Man' and his force of humans and chained Zs, but they are unsuccessful.  'The Man' captures the doctor (but not before the doctor exposes himself to his fungally infected wife which means he is also probably infected), and the gang survives but everyone at the research lab including 5K and Red die.

Last scene of the flashback episode is of a helicopter carrying a cargo container full of these captured doctors that were on 'The Man's list being delivered to the Zona compound (which appears to be in the mountains), and the doctors all being walked out by the pool.

By the way, 'The Man' drives a Jaguar sedan that has been upgraded with a monster truck undercarriage.  And the last scene of him is him sitting in his car as the helicopter flies away to see that he has received a new list -- probably the list of one name we saw this episode.  Which means 'The Man' has been following the gang across the country all this time -- from approx. Missouri to Texas, to New Mexico, to the Grand Canyon, to the Arizona border and to California.

http://www.syfy.com/znation/maps/

[ottoDbusdriver]

We get a little bit of background on Hector from Dr. Sun's tablet.

Aliases:
-- Juan Michael Mas
-- El Scorpion
-- Mazatlan Mangler
-- Jose Zapatas
-- Matt Dearborn

List of crimes:
-- Kidnapping
-- Assault
-- Battery
-- Public Indecency
-- Vehicular Homicide
-- Extortion
-- Blackmail
-- Arson
-- Tax Evasion
-- Wildlife Smuggling
-- Conspiracy to posses
    heroin, cocaine
    and marijuana
   
That last entry is not a typo -- 'possess' was misspelled on the tablet.

Hector (in response to his criminal past): "Career opportunities in my neighborhood were somewhat limited."
Roberta: "We get the friends we deserve."

I'm just surprised the Chinese military didn't send a bigger squad to capture Murphy -- plus they have an aircraft carrier, fighter jets, and that massive military cargo plane.

Doc: "Have you seen a kid with black spiky hair and brooding good looks ? He was on that submarine with Murphy."

Those 2 ATVs getting flat tires simultaneously initially led me to believe it was a trap, nope, just a premise for the Enders attack.

I guess Murphy bit 10K on submarine -- because 10K started acting off from the moment he woke up on the RIB.  And I suppose from Murphy's point of view, biting 10K is pay back for Cassandra.

When Murphy noted that 10K had stopped counting kills, you could hear a crow in the background -- does that mean that 5K survived and is not far away ?

Edited September 25, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver
To fix spelling mistakes

[Ohwell]

This episode was much better than last week's.  Doc's worrying over 10k just breaks my heart.  I hope 10k isn't as affected as Cassandra with the Murphy bite because I'm looking forward to his reunion with Doc.

I miss Vasquez because I wanted him to be a love interest for Roberta but, on second thought, it's just as well that Matt Cedeno left to be on another show because he probably would have gotten killed on Z-Nation.   Plus, Hector is growing on me.

[Rapunzel]

8 hours ago, Ohwell said:

This episode was much better than last week's.  Doc's worrying over 10k just breaks my heart.  I hope 10k isn't as affected as Cassandra with the Murphy bite because I'm looking forward to his reunion with Doc.

I miss Vasquez because I wanted him to be a love interest for Roberta but, on second thought, it's just as well that Matt Cedeno left to be on another show because he probably would have gotten killed on Z-Nation.   Plus, Hector is growing on me.

I'm glad that I was at least partially right with my post from last week's episode ND 10K is still with us. I watched the previous season finale right before I watched this season's premier flashback mess of an episode and speculated that 10K was still alive but lying down in the bottom of the Zodiac so we couldn't see him. I had hoped, however, that Murphy hadn't bitten him. Too bad that happened - though at least he doesn't seem as much Z as Cassandra did - neither does the lady doc. The Captain (RIP) and the other guys from the sub, however, seem to not have thoughts of their own at all. It makes me wonder how much Murphy can control how much someone is affected by his bite.

I really miss Vasquez. I was so hoping he would re-appear and join back up with the group. Hector is okay, but I can't see past the actor as the head of the Mayan's Motorcycle Gang on Sons of Anarchy. Also, I don't think he's as good looking as Vasquez so I'm kind of missing the eye candy. Maybe Vasquez will show up later (even if the actor is now on Power - that show has kind of been going down the tubes lately).

Edited September 24, 2016 by Rapunzel

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, Rapunzel said:

Maybe Vasquez will show up later (even if the actor is now on Power - that show has kind of been going down the tubes lately).

I hope he shows up too.  I really miss the eye candy. : )

No way is Hector eye candy, and I don't expect he'll hook up with Roberta, but he'll do as a side kick.  

[Joimiaroxeu]

So is that it for Citizen Z? His mission doesn't exist anymore, plus he doesn't have access to all that fancy electronic equipment unless he finds his way to a relatively well-stocked university or military installation in Alaska or Canada. If the character's no longer a part of the storyline at least they gave him a decent sendoff and he didn't end up killed or zombified. And the dog survived too.

As far as yummy Vasquez is concerned, I don't see why the actor can't do both shows unless there's a scheduling conflict between when the shows are taped. Z Nation did leave an opening for him to return and he could be killed off Power at any time.

Edited September 24, 2016 by Joimiaroxeu

[Rapunzel]

6 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I hope he shows up too.  I really miss the eye candy. : )

No way is Hector eye candy, and I don't expect he'll hook up with Roberta, but he'll do as a side kick.  

Agree with all of this  :-) "The Man" doesn't do it for me either, so they need to bring in someone else to fill the eye candy void. If Vasquez doesn't end up reconnecting with the group, I hope they find another good (and good looking) male fighter to join their crew. Their group is starting to get pretty small as it is and the addition of the Asian doc/scientist doesn't really help much as they need people who can fight without high tech toys.

I'm still sad that 10k was Murphied.

Edited September 24, 2016 by Rapunzel

[Rapunzel]

1 hour ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

So is that it for Citizen Z? His mission doesn't exist anymore, plus he doesn't have access to all that fancy electronic equipment unless he finds his way to a relatively well-stocked university or military installation in Alaska or Canada. If the character's no longer a part of the storyline at least they gave him a decent sendoff and he didn't end up killed or zombified. And the dog survived too.

As far as yummy Vasquez is concerned, I don't see why the actor can't do both shows unless there's a scheduling conflict between when the shows are taped. They did leave an opening for him to return.

They did leave an opening for Vasquez to return, and I definitely hope he does, despite the other show that the actor signed up for. As you mentioned, hopefully the filming schedules don't conflict.

As for Citizen Z, I'm thinking that the people that saved him must have some kind of radio as the girl was listening to his broadcasts. Perhaps they have enough equipment and other things around to enable Citizen Z to create a new radio and get back in touch with the group. In any case, I just really hope we haven't seen the last of him and the dog.

Edited September 24, 2016 by Rapunzel

[Ohwell]

Unfortunately, according to IMDB it looks like Matt Cedeno is done.

[ottoDbusdriver]

3 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

And the dog survived too.

2 hours ago, Rapunzel said:

In any case, I just really hope we haven't seen the last of him and the dog.

However, the dog STILL doesn't have a name.

[Rapunzel]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

However, the dog STILL doesn't have a name.

True - I think at this point his name should pretty much officially just be "Dog."

Edited September 24, 2016 by Rapunzel

[Peanut]

Do people heal faster after being bitten by Murphy?  I was thinking maybe that was one reason he bit 10K; otherwise, I don't think 10K could run around like he's doing.  Or maybe I'm giving the show too much credit.  

And can I just say how much I love that this show has all these different ethnicities and that they fit into the show naturally and aren't shoved in to say, "HEY LOOK AT ALL THESE MINORITIES WE HAVE".  

 

And Doc's comment about 10K's "brooding good looks"?  So spot on.  :-)

[zibnchy]

Thank you ottoDbusdriver.

This show is so stupid and I love it. Roberta is my favorite badass. Kellita Smith should be more famous.

[peach]

3 hours ago, Peanut said:

Do people heal faster after being bitten by Murphy?  I was thinking maybe that was one reason he bit 10K; otherwise, I don't think 10K could run around like he's doing.  Or maybe I'm giving the show too much credit.  

 

I'm going to give Murphy 10% of the benefit of the doubt that 10K was probably going to die, so giving him a blend bite saved him the only way he could.  I mean, he had a gut shot, he probably couldn't go on the run from an exploding submarine.  But yeah, it was also a payback for Cassandra, and he wants to use 10K in his crew. 

Murphy's general plan sort of intrigues me, and the actor just nails this role, but I feel I'm getting burned out on the whole genre.  I'll stick with it though.  Done with TWD, though.

[CletusMusashi]

Much better than last week. Not as funny as last season, but I didn't mind watching it. Honestly, this should have been the premier. If they felt like they had to show that nonsense we sat through last Friday, it should have been shown after this "Welcome back to the main narrative" episode.

[raven]

On 9/24/2016 at 7:56 PM, zibnchy said:

Roberta is my favorite badass. Kellita Smith should be more famous.

Love her.  Can't blame Murphy for wanting her along.  I kind of like the idea of Roberta looking to bring him down.   Much more interesting than the bald guy's plans.  Also like the idea of the Enders.

I can understand Murphy saying F it and going with his own plans.   I HATE seeing 10K under his control (he looked sad at the end) so I'm hoping that ends sooner rather than later.

At least the dog is alive...and I liked Citizen Z's rescuer, but I don't know how they're going to blend them with the rest of the story. 

On 9/24/2016 at 11:24 AM, Ohwell said:

Doc's worrying over 10k just breaks my heart.  

Me too.  This show can be silly but the relationships feel earned. 

[jhlipton]

On 9/24/2016 at 7:56 PM, zibnchy said:

This show is so stupid and I love it. Roberta is my favorite badass. Kellita Smith should be more famous.

I love the actress and the character.  And I know she'll never be "Abbie Mills"ed -- I think SyFy knows what a find they have.

[Bec]

I love how this show has just about the full rainbow of ethnicities, and what's even better is that it doesn't feel forced, it makes sense as part of the story.

Pretty much called the soldier guys all dying as soon as everybody teamed up. Would have made their mission way too easy if they had a bunch of soldiers to protect them from everything.

When Kaya said she's Citizen Z's fan, I thought "is this plot about to turn into Misery"? That's when she said "not in a Kathy Bates Misery kind of way". Hee, it's like the show is reading my mind!

Why does Murphy have to bite people on the face? Even though he bit 10K, at least it wasn't on the face. I suppose the showrunners are sensitive to the fact that fans would not be happy with anyone messing up 10K's face. Thank goodness for small mercies!

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, Bec said:

Why does Murphy have to bite people on the face? Even though he bit 10K, at least it wasn't on the face. I suppose the showrunners are sensitive to the fact that fans would not be happy with anyone messing up 10K's face. Thank goodness for small mercies!

Simple strategy, I suspect:

1. For Murphy's Mob, it's an immediately visible sign indicating the bearer has been turned and is blindingly loyal to Murphy - and makes it super easy to spot infiltrators.
2. 10K's not just another rank-and-file member of Murphy's Mob, though; he's also a member of Warren's group, who Murphy now views as adversaries.  Hiding the evidence of 10K's turning could work to Murphy's advantage, should Murphy need 10K to infiltrate the original group as Murphy's spy.